Opposition Leader Under House Arrest Harshly Attacks Khamenei

Former reformist parliament speaker Mehdi Karrubi speaks during a press conference in Tehran, March 9, 2008

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Opposition Leader Under House Arrest Harshly Attacks Khamenei

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Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist cleric who has been under house arrest for seven years now, has criticized Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a letter published on social media in Tehran, on Tuesday 30 January.

Karroubi, 80, was one of the leaders of the protest movement that brought millions of Iranians to the streets following the disputed presidential election that re-installed ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term in 2009.

In the letter Karroubi says that Khamenei should be blamed for the country’s chaotic political, economic, cultural and social situations.

Karroubi also harshly criticizes Khamenei for authorizing the political and economic activities of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Baseej militia, and names Khamenei as the man responsible for the problems they have caused for the nation.

Karroubi writes: “The political behavior of some of IRGC commanders has brought about political instability and created a despotism that has deprived the nation of its political rights and has put an end to the idea of the regime being a republic.”

The IRGC is intervening in the intelligence activities as an organization that duplicates the activities of the Intelligence Ministry, Karoubi adds.

He also says that there is no control or supervision that could harness the IRGC intelligence organization’s wrongdoing and its violation of people’s essential rights.

Karroubi also accused IRGC of major economic corruption including unlawful acquisition of industrial companies and plants.

He went on to call on Khamenei to be answerable for IRGC’s intervention in Iran’s economy, intelligence, culture and politics.

In another part of the letter, Karroubi protested the interventions of Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, in the disputed 2005 and 2009 presidential elections, and named IRGC and Baseej militia as his accomplices.

Karroubi says that his house arrest is the price he has been paying for objecting to IRGC’s intervention in Iran’s economy and politics.

Elsewhere, Karroubi lashes out at Khamenei for supporting Ahmadinejad and bringing about disgrace for the regime by having kept him in power.

Karroubi accuses Khamenei of ignoring the people’s will and demands, reminding him of the disqualification of popular candidates for elected offcies by the unelected Guardian Council in previous elections.

Intervention in the affairs of seminaries by pumping state budget into them and changing the Assembly of Experts from a body that should have supervised the Supreme Leader’s behavior to a bunch of irresponsible clerics whose main goal is to please Khamenei are among other accusation leveled by Karroubi in his letter to Khamenei.